...Hooray!!
I've reached my goal and I still have a day to spare. I played in the Sunday Tournament on Full Tilt today at the same time I played in some cash games. Once again, I didn't cash in the tourney and I also decided to make some side bets with a couple of guys on NWP. I lost $125 in those so that was $340 down the drain due to more tournament shenanigans. Once I busted from the tourney I got back on the grind and opened up my standard 8 tables of cash games. I have managed to run my full tilt account back up to a decent amount so I decided I would give some 5/10 NL a shot. I played 5 tables of 2/4 NL and 3 tables of 5/10 NL. For some reason there is hardly ever any 3/6 NL full ring games, but there are some full ring 5/10 games from time to time. It kind of sucks because you can't really make a very smooth transition moving up in limits when you have to jump from 2/4 to 5/10 skipping the 3/6 level. I don't think the play is much tougher at 5/10 than it is at 2/4, but it is kind of hard to get used to the money difference in the games. One thing I have to watch out for is that the losses can pile up a lot faster at 5/10 and quickly affect your confidence which will inevitably affect your play. At 2/4 it doesn't really phase me to get down a couple of buy-ins....at 5/10 a couple of buy-ins is $2,000 and that is certainly no fun.
Anyway, I didn't feel like I played my best poker today. It was kind of weird keeping the tournament mindset separate from the cash game mindset. It kind of got me out of my cash game groove and started to tilt me a little bit. Once I got back to playing all cash games I started playing a little better. I ended up winning about $1900 at 5/10 and lost about $350 playing 2/4. All in all I ended up winning $1,227 for the day and that puts me at +$6,163 for the 9 days since I have been back in Vegas. Not....too....shabby. I might play a little bit tomorrow, but I have bowling as well as some errands I need to take care of before I leave town on Tuesday. Hopefully, I'll bowl as well tomorrow as I did the previous week.
Getting the results that I knew I would if I could force myself to put in the hours and hands that I needed to is a pretty satisfying feeling. However, it makes me realize how much I take my ability and the situation I am in for granted. Sometimes, I feel like a monkey could beat the limits that I play and I start to lose the challenge that poker is supposed to provide. I get the feeling that some other people (mostly people outside of the poker world) feel the same way. One of my friends said to me the other day "It must be nice to make so much money so easily". I kind of resented that statement at the time and it made me think to myself....Hey, if is so easy, why don't you do it...or why doesn't everyone do it? The truth is there are TONS of people that try to do what I do and for whatever reason most of them can't do it. Hopefully, I can continue to keep putting in the hard work and making the money that I should.
The pizza man just caught a good break...since I was in the mood of feeling that I don't always deserve the money I make I tipped him $9 on a $21 pizza. Oh well, good for him. Time to eat!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
If these things don't make you laugh....
...I cannot be your friend!
I could probably watch this one 1,000 times in a row...
I could probably watch this one 1,000 times in a row...
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I reached my goal.....
....and then I fell back below it. To start the day I was $1,470 short of reaching my goal and I still had 3 days to do it. At the peak of my session today I was up $1988 Then, I lost a few races against short stacks and lost another huge pot when someone turned a higher flush than I did. I ended up winning $1,090 in 2,131 hands which is still a pretty good days work since I only played 3.5 hours.
Since I struggled to get motivated to play on Wednesday I decided to take yesterday off. I am very weary about burning myself out on poker. I ended up playing a couple of tournaments late last night just because I was bored, but I didn't play any cash games. Of course I didn't cash in either one of them and lost $184 playing in those stupid things. I hate tournaments more and more every time I play in them. It is really amazing I still ever fool around with them. Today, I felt much better about playing and was really playing well using some increased aggression in some spots that I felt other players were weak.
One thing I have been trying to improve on is my play on the river. One play I have been trying to incorporate more and more is to play really aggressively against people that make weak value and/or blocking bets vs. me on the river. Matt was actually the one that got me thinking about this type of play and I believe he said he read about it in Barry Greenstein's book. There are several reasons why this play works well.
1. You can win a decent pot when you steal what was already in the pot + however much their "value" bet was.
2. It will keep people from value betting thin OR bluffing against you in the future and you will get to show down some hands that you might otherwise be paying them off with or at times when you could be folding the winning hand to their bluff.
3. If people start to adjust to your aggressive river play they will eventually start calling you down lite and you will be getting paid off with your big hands on the river when they would ordinarily be folding.
I really enjoy making this play as it is very satisfying when it works out. Here is the end of a hand history from my session today where it worked out. I had raised PF with Kc Qc and bet the flop and the turn before this action took place on the river:
There was $198 in the pot at this point.
*** RIVER *** [7h 4c 8c 3d] [Ah]
Bestcuf bets $50
thakilla raises to $225
Bestcuf folds
I am sure he folded the best hand and that is an extra $248 that I normally wouldn't have won.
So with two more days left to play I am up $4,936 and I need to win $564 to get to my goal. My other goal while I was home was to average 1,200 hands played each day. I have already played 15,354 hands in only 6 days of playing in 8 days time (I took two days off). I had 10 days to complete my goal so if I didn't play anymore I would already have an average of over 1500/day. I am really proud of how hard I have worked since I have been back in Vegas.
Since I struggled to get motivated to play on Wednesday I decided to take yesterday off. I am very weary about burning myself out on poker. I ended up playing a couple of tournaments late last night just because I was bored, but I didn't play any cash games. Of course I didn't cash in either one of them and lost $184 playing in those stupid things. I hate tournaments more and more every time I play in them. It is really amazing I still ever fool around with them. Today, I felt much better about playing and was really playing well using some increased aggression in some spots that I felt other players were weak.
One thing I have been trying to improve on is my play on the river. One play I have been trying to incorporate more and more is to play really aggressively against people that make weak value and/or blocking bets vs. me on the river. Matt was actually the one that got me thinking about this type of play and I believe he said he read about it in Barry Greenstein's book. There are several reasons why this play works well.
1. You can win a decent pot when you steal what was already in the pot + however much their "value" bet was.
2. It will keep people from value betting thin OR bluffing against you in the future and you will get to show down some hands that you might otherwise be paying them off with or at times when you could be folding the winning hand to their bluff.
3. If people start to adjust to your aggressive river play they will eventually start calling you down lite and you will be getting paid off with your big hands on the river when they would ordinarily be folding.
I really enjoy making this play as it is very satisfying when it works out. Here is the end of a hand history from my session today where it worked out. I had raised PF with Kc Qc and bet the flop and the turn before this action took place on the river:
There was $198 in the pot at this point.
*** RIVER *** [7h 4c 8c 3d] [Ah]
Bestcuf bets $50
thakilla raises to $225
Bestcuf folds
I am sure he folded the best hand and that is an extra $248 that I normally wouldn't have won.
So with two more days left to play I am up $4,936 and I need to win $564 to get to my goal. My other goal while I was home was to average 1,200 hands played each day. I have already played 15,354 hands in only 6 days of playing in 8 days time (I took two days off). I had 10 days to complete my goal so if I didn't play anymore I would already have an average of over 1500/day. I am really proud of how hard I have worked since I have been back in Vegas.
Friday, January 25, 2008
I hate to say it, but it kinda felt like work today :(
As soon as I started playing my session today I really wasn't in the mood to play and I never really got anymore motivated to be playing either. I started off up about $400 right off the bat, but then lost about a $1200 3-handed pot when my set of 5's were up against a short stack with nothing but a gut shot and a guy that had me covered with an overpair of Kings. The big stack hit his 3rd king on the river to win the pot. That hand happened within the first hour of playing and it made me even less interested in grinding for another long session. However, since I had taken so much time off recently I told myself I needed to put in the work and I managed to get myself to play 2,822 hands in a little less than 5 hours. I ended up booking a $393 win...as it turns out this was the most I was ever up throughout the entire day. It is kind of crazy to win almost $400 in about 5 hours of work and to still feel like the day was pretty much a waste. My hourly rate for the day was $82.18 which seems pretty decent when you put it that way, but the session was so uneventful and almost boring that it didn't feel like a success.
Here is a graph of how boring my poker day was....2,800 hands and never up more than $400 or down more than $700. At least I ended up in the black (click the graph to make it bigger).
That puts me at +$4,030 with 4 days left to get to my goal. I would be a little bit higher, but I played a $105 HU sit and go last night that I lost and I took 1/4th of Kevin's action today in a tourney that he didn't cash in. Anyway, I need to win $1,470 in 4 days which seems very doable as long as I can put in the work.
Here is a graph of how boring my poker day was....2,800 hands and never up more than $400 or down more than $700. At least I ended up in the black (click the graph to make it bigger).
That puts me at +$4,030 with 4 days left to get to my goal. I would be a little bit higher, but I played a $105 HU sit and go last night that I lost and I took 1/4th of Kevin's action today in a tourney that he didn't cash in. Anyway, I need to win $1,470 in 4 days which seems very doable as long as I can put in the work.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Another good one in the books....
It seems like I am on a little mini-heater, but really I am not running any better than what I should be. Since I have been back to Vegas I have played a little over 12,000 hands and I am running at 4.13 BB/100 hands. I expect to run somewhere between 4-6 BB/100 hands. In the past two days alone I have played almost 5,000 of those 12,000 hands and I have run at 6.3 BB/100 hands. So, I guess the past two days are just slightly above what I should expect, but the real reason I am winning more money than I am used to is because I have been playing 8 tables instead of 4-6 and I am putting in lots of hours.
Today I played 2,371 hands in almost 4.5 hours and won $1,281. That puts me at $3,782 since I have been back with 5 days left to get to my $5,500 goal (now it is down to only $343/day!) and its looking like it might be reachable as long as I can keep putting in the hours everyday. I realize it doesn't seem like 4 or 5 hours a day is much at all and that I should be able to put in 10-12 hour days since all I am doing is sitting in my pajama pants and a T-shirt with my laptop on my lap. Playing 8 tables for that many hours can really wear you down pretty quickly and you can't really afford to not be your sharpest, especially with that many tables going.
Sorry for all the numbers, but I am kind of a stats freak. I'll leave you with one hand that I played today that could have made my day even better!
**Warning**
It is a bad beat, but I really don't care about losing the hand because I felt like I really manipulated the other player into making a huge mistake.
I limped UTG with Kc Kh and three other players limped in as well. The SB raised it to $30. I felt like he was doing this with a pretty big hand and I HATE having to get all-in with Kings preflop, because people just don't get it in within anything less than KK or AA anymore these days it seems. We both had almost full stacks ($400 each). Anyway, I just smooth called and the player on my left called as well, everyone else folded so we took the flop 3 ways ($98 in the pot).
The flop came Ks Ts Qd. The original raiser led out $80 and I knew I had him in pretty bad shape. I felt pretty strongly that he had AA.. I didn't want to just smooth call, because the player behind is pretty wild and I didn't want him coming in cheaply with a flush or straight draw. I pushed all-in for $362 and the player behind be instantly folded. Now the original better went into the tank and started to let his time bank run down. I knew he didn't have AJ (the only real possible hand that is ahead of me in this spot) and probably still had AA and possibly AK? Anyway, I knew that I really wanted him to call. As his time bank was getting close to expiring I typed in "17 outs" hopefully making him think I had a open end straight and a flush draw with a hand like JTs or another J suited hand in spades (even though these aren't really in my range here)....he almost instantly called with Ac Kd!! Now, the only way I could lose the hand was if a Jack hit or it went running aces. A jack hit on the turn and now I still had redraw outs to a full house...I didn't get there. He then typed in "Nah, 4 outs are good enough". I then typed "lol, nh". He says "sorry". Obviously, I didn't like the end result, but I felt like I definitely had an impact in him calling my bet (even though he most likely wouldn't have folded anyway, because most people just tend to go crazy with top pair). Anyway, I win that pot somewhere around 85% of the time and that could have very easily been a $819 boost to my already solid day.
Today I played 2,371 hands in almost 4.5 hours and won $1,281. That puts me at $3,782 since I have been back with 5 days left to get to my $5,500 goal (now it is down to only $343/day!) and its looking like it might be reachable as long as I can keep putting in the hours everyday. I realize it doesn't seem like 4 or 5 hours a day is much at all and that I should be able to put in 10-12 hour days since all I am doing is sitting in my pajama pants and a T-shirt with my laptop on my lap. Playing 8 tables for that many hours can really wear you down pretty quickly and you can't really afford to not be your sharpest, especially with that many tables going.
Sorry for all the numbers, but I am kind of a stats freak. I'll leave you with one hand that I played today that could have made my day even better!
**Warning**
It is a bad beat, but I really don't care about losing the hand because I felt like I really manipulated the other player into making a huge mistake.
I limped UTG with Kc Kh and three other players limped in as well. The SB raised it to $30. I felt like he was doing this with a pretty big hand and I HATE having to get all-in with Kings preflop, because people just don't get it in within anything less than KK or AA anymore these days it seems. We both had almost full stacks ($400 each). Anyway, I just smooth called and the player on my left called as well, everyone else folded so we took the flop 3 ways ($98 in the pot).
The flop came Ks Ts Qd. The original raiser led out $80 and I knew I had him in pretty bad shape. I felt pretty strongly that he had AA.. I didn't want to just smooth call, because the player behind is pretty wild and I didn't want him coming in cheaply with a flush or straight draw. I pushed all-in for $362 and the player behind be instantly folded. Now the original better went into the tank and started to let his time bank run down. I knew he didn't have AJ (the only real possible hand that is ahead of me in this spot) and probably still had AA and possibly AK? Anyway, I knew that I really wanted him to call. As his time bank was getting close to expiring I typed in "17 outs" hopefully making him think I had a open end straight and a flush draw with a hand like JTs or another J suited hand in spades (even though these aren't really in my range here)....he almost instantly called with Ac Kd!! Now, the only way I could lose the hand was if a Jack hit or it went running aces. A jack hit on the turn and now I still had redraw outs to a full house...I didn't get there. He then typed in "Nah, 4 outs are good enough". I then typed "lol, nh". He says "sorry". Obviously, I didn't like the end result, but I felt like I definitely had an impact in him calling my bet (even though he most likely wouldn't have folded anyway, because most people just tend to go crazy with top pair). Anyway, I win that pot somewhere around 85% of the time and that could have very easily been a $819 boost to my already solid day.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
I guess I bowl like I golf.....
It seems like every time I take a really long break from golf I always play surprisingly well my first time back. Well, I hadn't bowled in a month and last night was my first night back. I bowled a 183-147-215 for a 545 series. It seemed like I bowled really well and I guess I did compared to what I was expecting, but I just now realized that I bowled almost exactly what I my average says I should. My average for the season is 181 and that would put me at a 543 series. Oh well, it felt pretty good to do average.
I took the entire day off yesterday from poker not really because I felt like I needed a break, but it just didn't really fit very well into my schedule. I woke up late then had bowling at 6:00 and then my first ever Martin Luther King Jr. Day party around 9:00pm. Before I tell you what happens at a MLK party I offer this disclaimer: I swear I am not racist and don't think any of my friends really are either. However, for our MLK party we obviously catered our own party with Fried Chicken and had grape soda and 40 oz. beers to drink. Also, the racial/stereotypical jokes were rolling off everyone's tongues rather easily throughout the party. All in all, it was a good time. The guys swear they want to invite a token black guy next year, but I am not sure that would be such a good idea.
After taking all of yesterday off I had a really solid day of poker today. I played almost 5 hours, almost 2700 hands, and won $1,490. I ended up having AA dealt to me 19 times and under a normal distribution I would have gotten them around 12 times. I only lost with them one time and ended up winning almost $1100 just off of my Aces. All of these things usually are pretty indicative of a really good session. Having said that...I think the games online are getting MUCH softer recently. There are lots of new ways people can get money online and I am starting to notice more and more terrible players losing more than just one short buy-in. Also, there have been way more full ring games running than there have been in the past. Hopefully both of these trends continue, because the games had been pretty stagnant online ever since about 6 months after the online gaming legislation passed.
+$2501 with 6 days left. Today was a good step in getting me to my $5500 goal, but averaging $500/day for 6 days in a row is no easy task. I'll give it my best shot though.
I took the entire day off yesterday from poker not really because I felt like I needed a break, but it just didn't really fit very well into my schedule. I woke up late then had bowling at 6:00 and then my first ever Martin Luther King Jr. Day party around 9:00pm. Before I tell you what happens at a MLK party I offer this disclaimer: I swear I am not racist and don't think any of my friends really are either. However, for our MLK party we obviously catered our own party with Fried Chicken and had grape soda and 40 oz. beers to drink. Also, the racial/stereotypical jokes were rolling off everyone's tongues rather easily throughout the party. All in all, it was a good time. The guys swear they want to invite a token black guy next year, but I am not sure that would be such a good idea.
After taking all of yesterday off I had a really solid day of poker today. I played almost 5 hours, almost 2700 hands, and won $1,490. I ended up having AA dealt to me 19 times and under a normal distribution I would have gotten them around 12 times. I only lost with them one time and ended up winning almost $1100 just off of my Aces. All of these things usually are pretty indicative of a really good session. Having said that...I think the games online are getting MUCH softer recently. There are lots of new ways people can get money online and I am starting to notice more and more terrible players losing more than just one short buy-in. Also, there have been way more full ring games running than there have been in the past. Hopefully both of these trends continue, because the games had been pretty stagnant online ever since about 6 months after the online gaming legislation passed.
+$2501 with 6 days left. Today was a good step in getting me to my $5500 goal, but averaging $500/day for 6 days in a row is no easy task. I'll give it my best shot though.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Told ya so...
I know you woke up today wondering if I had made my roaring comeback that I predicted yesterday after my super rough start. Well, after my break I played about 1100 hands and ended up winning about $930 for a profit of $144. Then I got the invite for another shenanigans $105 tournament at The Orleans. Of course I didn't cash....again, but at least this time I didn't have to play forever before I busted out. Micon, Mike, Bill, and Kevin all played in it. Bill doubled up on his first hand and also was the first one of us to bust out! Bill was followed my Mike, then Me, then Micon.....Wait, but when did Kevin bust out??? He didn't! Kevin ended up getting a pretty sweet chop deal by offering to add an extra $200 to the 2nd place money and he ended up pocketing $2,000. He obviously shot a little bit off at the roulette table on the way out (not sure how much) and is playing live right now. Money might burn a hole in his pocket faster than anyone I've ever met.
So, a couple of nights ago I was feeling squirrely and decided I would play some 8/16 Omaha 8 or better. I am not the best O8 player in the world and I very rarely play it, but every time I do I feel like the players I am playing against are WAY too loose and I run pretty badly at it. Maybe I just don't know the game well enough to realize why I am losing at it (very possible). Anyway, I lost $431 and it was another typical O8 session for me. I guess I'll try again in 6 months.
So after my O8 hiccup and my rough start yesterday I am only at +$1011 with about 8 days left. My chances are looking slim to get to my $5,500 goal, but with a two or three really solid days I can still get there. I am not sure when I am going to play any poker today. I have bowling and then a small party to go to after that. I will have more to say about that tomorrow. This will be my first time bowling in a while and I am not sure what to expect. Just for fun I'll set my goal for the night at a 500 series.
So, a couple of nights ago I was feeling squirrely and decided I would play some 8/16 Omaha 8 or better. I am not the best O8 player in the world and I very rarely play it, but every time I do I feel like the players I am playing against are WAY too loose and I run pretty badly at it. Maybe I just don't know the game well enough to realize why I am losing at it (very possible). Anyway, I lost $431 and it was another typical O8 session for me. I guess I'll try again in 6 months.
So after my O8 hiccup and my rough start yesterday I am only at +$1011 with about 8 days left. My chances are looking slim to get to my $5,500 goal, but with a two or three really solid days I can still get there. I am not sure when I am going to play any poker today. I have bowling and then a small party to go to after that. I will have more to say about that tomorrow. This will be my first time bowling in a while and I am not sure what to expect. Just for fun I'll set my goal for the night at a 500 series.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
I know myself well....
A very important part of playing poker for a living is knowing how you react to certain situations and being able to control your emotions. There are TONS of people that know everything about the math needed to succeed in poker, what hands to play from what positions, and the fundamentals behind proper bankroll management. However, very few of these people have the discipline to actually apply what they know....all the time. In my mind, that is the single most important factor in determining who the successful poker players are and/or who are going to be successful in the long run. I see success in the poker world as being able to stay in money, provide enough income for yourself to live the lifestyle that you desire (that includes saving for the future and paying taxes), and playing with your own money. As far as playing with your own money, there are some occasional situations where I feel like it is acceptable to play while being staked, but to perpetually be staked as a winning player is very -EV in the long run and should be avoided if possible. I know...being staked means that you don't have to accept any of the risk that is associated with playing poker for a living, but if you are a winning player you have to have enough confidence in yourself to realize that the risk of going broke is actually VERY low provided you have the necessary discipline. Anyway, being staked is almost exclusive to tournament players anyway and isn't really what concerns me. I should probably save my anti-staking rant for another blog, but I have already typed all of that out and I am not going to erase it now....back to my original topic...
Question: What separates successful poker professionals apart from other less successful professional players (who are repeatedly going broke) and/or players that have the necessary skill to make it as a professional, but can't for some reason or another.
Answer: Discipline. Like I said there are TONS of people that know the fundamentals of poker (and in reality there isn't too much more that someone needs to be able to beat lower stakes poker), but very few of these people can actually apply enough discipline to make it work in the long run. Here are some of the areas of discipline that people often fail at:
1. Playing quality starting cards and considering position into your hand selection.
2. Practicing good game selection. Do you have a CONSIDERABLE edge in the game? I stress considerable, because it is tough to be honest with yourself when analyzing your edge in a game and is almost always usually much lower than you think it is. If you need a good rule of thumb...it is probably better to choose a limit or game that you think you can crush than it is to play one that you just think you are a small favorite in.
3. Playing within your bankroll. That means you have ALL of 6 months worth of expenses set aside PLUS whatever rules you should apply to your chosen game (25 buy-ins or 500+ Big Bets are pretty widely accepted). Don't forget that means that sometimes you will have to step DOWN in limits when you go on an inevitable bad run.
4. Always play your A-game. This is possibly the one that is the hardest for people to apply. People have a really hard time not letting outside forces affect how they play. For example, it is pretty much impossible to play your absolute best when you are losing and especially when you have been on an extended losing streak. For me, I know when I am losing it gets tougher and tougher to make big folds and they come almost subconsciously when I am winning and playing my best. Also, even if I have been winning for a month straight, anytime you get put in a spot where you have to make several big folds in a short amount of time they get increasingly tough to make.
This blog is getting WAY to long so I am going to try to wrap it up with some concise words of wisdom....
I know these areas of discipline seem simple enough to follow and most people probably feel like they do a good job of following them. I would argue that most people have a warped sense of reality and/or are not being honest with themselves when they evaluate their choices and discipline or lack thereof. I think the secrets to following these basic rules are: gain a better understanding of yourself, make a serious effort in learning how to identify when something is compromising your discipline, and most importantly learn how to solve that issue before you play anymore poker.
Ok, I feel like most of what I just wrote was pretty much incoherent babble and no one besides me will be able to make any sense of it, but I really don't feel like trying to clean it up so it makes more sense for you. Deal with it :)
The reason I started thinking about all of this stuff was because I sat down to play a long session while I watched some football and within less than 10 minutes my play was already starting to deteriorate. I had to make about 3 really tough folds, I was losing on 5 of my 6 tables, someone turned two pair vs. my over pair, someone flopped a set of 3's vs. my AK on a K high board when we had put a lot of money in preflop (impossible to get away from), and I was already stuck $794. I decided to show some discipline and take a break even though I had only been playing for less than 10 minutes. It made me wonder how many players would just try to keep playing through it and let their play continue to suffer due to their bad start. Now, I have taken a plenty of a break and hopefully avoided playing any poker when I wasn't in my best frame of mind.
I know you would love for this blog to just keep going and going (as if its not way too long already), but I have lots more poker to play today and am ready to get back to work.
Question: What separates successful poker professionals apart from other less successful professional players (who are repeatedly going broke) and/or players that have the necessary skill to make it as a professional, but can't for some reason or another.
Answer: Discipline. Like I said there are TONS of people that know the fundamentals of poker (and in reality there isn't too much more that someone needs to be able to beat lower stakes poker), but very few of these people can actually apply enough discipline to make it work in the long run. Here are some of the areas of discipline that people often fail at:
1. Playing quality starting cards and considering position into your hand selection.
2. Practicing good game selection. Do you have a CONSIDERABLE edge in the game? I stress considerable, because it is tough to be honest with yourself when analyzing your edge in a game and is almost always usually much lower than you think it is. If you need a good rule of thumb...it is probably better to choose a limit or game that you think you can crush than it is to play one that you just think you are a small favorite in.
3. Playing within your bankroll. That means you have ALL of 6 months worth of expenses set aside PLUS whatever rules you should apply to your chosen game (25 buy-ins or 500+ Big Bets are pretty widely accepted). Don't forget that means that sometimes you will have to step DOWN in limits when you go on an inevitable bad run.
4. Always play your A-game. This is possibly the one that is the hardest for people to apply. People have a really hard time not letting outside forces affect how they play. For example, it is pretty much impossible to play your absolute best when you are losing and especially when you have been on an extended losing streak. For me, I know when I am losing it gets tougher and tougher to make big folds and they come almost subconsciously when I am winning and playing my best. Also, even if I have been winning for a month straight, anytime you get put in a spot where you have to make several big folds in a short amount of time they get increasingly tough to make.
This blog is getting WAY to long so I am going to try to wrap it up with some concise words of wisdom....
I know these areas of discipline seem simple enough to follow and most people probably feel like they do a good job of following them. I would argue that most people have a warped sense of reality and/or are not being honest with themselves when they evaluate their choices and discipline or lack thereof. I think the secrets to following these basic rules are: gain a better understanding of yourself, make a serious effort in learning how to identify when something is compromising your discipline, and most importantly learn how to solve that issue before you play anymore poker.
Ok, I feel like most of what I just wrote was pretty much incoherent babble and no one besides me will be able to make any sense of it, but I really don't feel like trying to clean it up so it makes more sense for you. Deal with it :)
The reason I started thinking about all of this stuff was because I sat down to play a long session while I watched some football and within less than 10 minutes my play was already starting to deteriorate. I had to make about 3 really tough folds, I was losing on 5 of my 6 tables, someone turned two pair vs. my over pair, someone flopped a set of 3's vs. my AK on a K high board when we had put a lot of money in preflop (impossible to get away from), and I was already stuck $794. I decided to show some discipline and take a break even though I had only been playing for less than 10 minutes. It made me wonder how many players would just try to keep playing through it and let their play continue to suffer due to their bad start. Now, I have taken a plenty of a break and hopefully avoided playing any poker when I wasn't in my best frame of mind.
I know you would love for this blog to just keep going and going (as if its not way too long already), but I have lots more poker to play today and am ready to get back to work.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Phew....
I just played the most hands of poker I have ever played in one session....by a lot. I played 3,079 hands in a little over 5.5 hours straight. I didn't get up to pee, eat, or take a break of any sort the entire time (once I did finally pee I think I also set a personal record for my longest continuous urination...I know you were wondering). The most hands I had ever played in a day before was probably in the neighborhood of 2,400 hands. To play 5.5 hours straight is pretty impressive for me in itself, but the crazy part was that I averaged playing 7.2 tables at a time over that span and I usually only play 5 or 6 tables. I am sure you are wondering how I ended up doing. I won a whopping $114.45! If you would have told me that I would only win $114 after having played 3,079 hands in a day I wouldn't be too excited about it. However, I started off my session losing and kept losing for most of my session. I was stuck around $800 for the majority of my day and ended up going on a little rush at the end to finally get winner. I was actually pretty happy about the way I played with the exception of two hands where I lost about $200 each, but that is going to happen when you play so many hands.
After I was finished with my session Kevin and some of his buddies came home VERY drunk from celebrating two of their birthdays. We had ordered the Roy Jones Jr./Felix Trinidad fight so they came over to watch that. Before we started the fight Kevin and I agreed to pay one of his drunk buddies $50 to jump in the pool. I know what you are thinking...$50 just to jump in a pool in Las Vegas!?! It has been unseasonably cold lately in Vegas and there has been a thin layer of ice on our pool for the last few days. Well, he did it! Just stripped down naked and hopped right in! Of course I postponed him jumping into the pool until I could get my digital camera to record a video of it :) I am trying to decide on whether I should put the video in my blog, but I will probably wait until tomorrow once everyone has sobered up before I do anything about it. Believe me....you WANT me to post it!
I'm starving and heading to Taco Bell to get some grub.
+$1,408 with 10 days left until I leave. On my way to the $5,500.
After I was finished with my session Kevin and some of his buddies came home VERY drunk from celebrating two of their birthdays. We had ordered the Roy Jones Jr./Felix Trinidad fight so they came over to watch that. Before we started the fight Kevin and I agreed to pay one of his drunk buddies $50 to jump in the pool. I know what you are thinking...$50 just to jump in a pool in Las Vegas!?! It has been unseasonably cold lately in Vegas and there has been a thin layer of ice on our pool for the last few days. Well, he did it! Just stripped down naked and hopped right in! Of course I postponed him jumping into the pool until I could get my digital camera to record a video of it :) I am trying to decide on whether I should put the video in my blog, but I will probably wait until tomorrow once everyone has sobered up before I do anything about it. Believe me....you WANT me to post it!
I'm starving and heading to Taco Bell to get some grub.
+$1,408 with 10 days left until I leave. On my way to the $5,500.
A solid day of poker....
I put in a decent amount of poker the last two days. Yesterday I played for about 3-4 hours online and ended up winning around $200 before I quit to watch the IU game. Then some friends (Josh, Micon, Dan Druff, and Brandon) and I went to goof off and play in the Sahara's 11pm $65 tourney. There was some good news and bad news about that tourney. Good: I made the final table!!! Bad: I won $0 for doing so. We started with about 60 players and they paid 7 spots. I was the first one out at the final table for 10th place. Brandon was out early. Micon made it to the final two tables. Druff finished 11th. Josh finished 9th. So all total we won a whopping $0.
Today I played for 2-3 hours and won $1484 online and then a bunch of us met up at the Venetian to play in the $200 8pm bounty tourney. There were only 74 players in it and it seemed like we made up the majority of the field. Micon, Josh, K-Dollar, Druff, Marc, Katherine (Marc's new squeeze), and myself all played in the tourney. Barry, Buxx, and Martha either played some 4/8 LHE or just birded the action. I was the last man standing of our crew, but once again I finished just out of the money. This time they paid 9 spots and I finished 13th or 14th. After I busted out we walked over to the new addition to the Venetian, The Palazzo. We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe in the Palazzo which is the EXACT same restaurant that is already in the Venetian. I am cool with that, because that is one of my favorite places to eat in Vegas.
Every time I play in one of these tourneys I just reinforce the fact that I hate tournament poker. People love the concept of thoughtlessly going all-in, flipping their cards over, running the cards out, and seeing if they get lucky. I understand how that rush of action is fun for people, but it is not the kind of poker I prefer to play. I like playing deep stack poker where there is plenty of thought and room to outplay your opponent (or get outplayed in some cases) on every street. I just can't hardly stomach the thought of playing great and basically mistake free poker and losing the same amount of money as the worst player in the whole tournament....90% of the time! This is an example of how little skill matters in tournaments. At the Sahara we were for sure the best 5 players in the tourney (out of 60)....none of us cashed. At the Venetian we had 7 of the best if not the 7 best players in the tourney (out of 74)....none of us cashed. While it really sucks that skill can't prevail more often this is what makes poker so awesome. If the best players always won poker would be about as popular (and profitable) as chess. Now I will name all the famous living chess players I can....Gary Kasparov and Bobby Fisher....err scratch that about Bobby Fisher. He died yesterday....R.I.P. Bobby Fisher
Time to hit the sack so I can get up tomorrow and get to work on my goals before leaving for Louisville. That reminds me...I booked my flight for Louisville today...leaving on the 29th and coming back to Vegas on the 4th.
I am currently +$1294 since getting back to Vegas and on my way to +$5500!!
Today I played for 2-3 hours and won $1484 online and then a bunch of us met up at the Venetian to play in the $200 8pm bounty tourney. There were only 74 players in it and it seemed like we made up the majority of the field. Micon, Josh, K-Dollar, Druff, Marc, Katherine (Marc's new squeeze), and myself all played in the tourney. Barry, Buxx, and Martha either played some 4/8 LHE or just birded the action. I was the last man standing of our crew, but once again I finished just out of the money. This time they paid 9 spots and I finished 13th or 14th. After I busted out we walked over to the new addition to the Venetian, The Palazzo. We ate at the Grand Lux Cafe in the Palazzo which is the EXACT same restaurant that is already in the Venetian. I am cool with that, because that is one of my favorite places to eat in Vegas.
Every time I play in one of these tourneys I just reinforce the fact that I hate tournament poker. People love the concept of thoughtlessly going all-in, flipping their cards over, running the cards out, and seeing if they get lucky. I understand how that rush of action is fun for people, but it is not the kind of poker I prefer to play. I like playing deep stack poker where there is plenty of thought and room to outplay your opponent (or get outplayed in some cases) on every street. I just can't hardly stomach the thought of playing great and basically mistake free poker and losing the same amount of money as the worst player in the whole tournament....90% of the time! This is an example of how little skill matters in tournaments. At the Sahara we were for sure the best 5 players in the tourney (out of 60)....none of us cashed. At the Venetian we had 7 of the best if not the 7 best players in the tourney (out of 74)....none of us cashed. While it really sucks that skill can't prevail more often this is what makes poker so awesome. If the best players always won poker would be about as popular (and profitable) as chess. Now I will name all the famous living chess players I can....Gary Kasparov and Bobby Fisher....err scratch that about Bobby Fisher. He died yesterday....R.I.P. Bobby Fisher
Time to hit the sack so I can get up tomorrow and get to work on my goals before leaving for Louisville. That reminds me...I booked my flight for Louisville today...leaving on the 29th and coming back to Vegas on the 4th.I am currently +$1294 since getting back to Vegas and on my way to +$5500!!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Airplane Blog...
First off, I am writing this blog while I am on the plane ride home and I am sure it is going to be pretty long. Sorry about the length, but if you don't like it I don't care :) It is sooo boring on here and I have nothing else to do.
I didn't update my blog too much while I was in Hawaii, but I think that is pretty reasonable. I also didn't check any of my voice mails and/or answer many phone calls while I was there. If you are reading this and felt like you were getting the could shoulder while I was in Hawaii....I guess you kinda were, but it wasn't for any reason other than that I was in Hawaii and didn't feel like spending my time on the phone.
Well, In my last blog I mentioned how Jeff hit the ball worse than I had ever seen him hit it yet managed to scrape it around in 2 under par for his first round....I guess it finally caught up to him for Friday's round. During Thursday's round he made a very prophetic statement even though he said it somewhat half-heartedly. He had hit it all over the place for the first few holes while remaining even par when he hit a poor tee shot on his 4th or 5th hole leaving him in the deep rough and right behind a tree. He tried to cut it around the tree, but his shot jumped right and hit the tree square which luckily kicked it back out into the middle of the fairway. He ended up making a great up and down from about 140 yards to save par. Feeling as though he was lucky to still be at even par even after hitting it so bad to start out, he looked at me on the way to the next tee box laughed and said "We are just delaying the inevitable". What he meant was, it didn't really matter that he just made that amazing par save, he couldn't expect to keep scoring so well while he was hitting it so poorly and eventually the bogeys were going to come. He managed to hold it together for the rest of Thursday's round, but boy did it catch up to him on Friday's round! It started on the first hole. He hit it right off the tee and ended up in the deep rough and behind a tree again. He tried to punch out to the fairway, but the rough turned his club over and he hit it through the fairway and into the left rough behind another tree. His only shot was to hit it in the green side bunker and from there he couldn't get it up and down. All the sudden he was back to even par after a double bogey on the opening hole. It only got worse from there and he ended up shooting a 77 for a two day total of 5 over par missing the cut by 6 shots. He said it was the most embarrassing round of golf he had ever played. Also, it tied for the highest round of golf he has shot since his sophomore year in college. Its pretty amazing to think that 99.9% of the golfing world would LOVE to shoot what he shoots on his worst day ever. So he missed the cut...now we were forced to spend more time at the beach, laying by the pool, eating at nice restaurants, and site seeing in Hawaii...what a bummer! He took almost the whole winter off and only practiced for about a week prior to the tournament so it wasn't so unexpected that he would play poorly in Hawaii. He has now vowed to never take so much time off in the winter again...you live and learn. He is so competitive that he will get back on track sooner than you'd expect and he'll be ready to go for his next tournament, The FBR, which is played in Phoenix in front of about 100K people and going on during the super bowl!
Yesterday we went to the North Shore to see some BIG waves. They were expecting some storm winds and 30 ft. waves which would be bigger than they have had in 3 years. They have some huge surfing competition in Hawaii, but they only have it when the waves get to 30 ft. or more so they had all of the world's best surfers on high alert that the competition might be going down within the next few days. I don't think they ended up getting high enough, but they were still very impressive. The waves were awesome to look at, but I was very dissapointed to find out that they would not allow any swimming by anyone that they deemed to be inexperienced and/or not local. I mean who are they to tell me that I don't get a chance to drown myself playing in the biggest waves I've ever seen?!? Of course I didn't want to go into the 30 ft. waves, but I REALLY wanted to play in/body surf in the huge (I'm guessing 8-10 ft.) waves that were crashing right near the shore. They had it roped off, but I couldn't help myself and got in anyway. A lifeguard immediately drove over on his 4-wheeler to kick me out of the water....what a bad break! Anyway, eventhough I couldn't enjoy the waves myself it was still pretty cool seeing the surfers getting out to the bigger waves and then riding back in once they made it. By the way, in case you have never been surfing...it is MUCH harder getting out to the waves than it is riding them back in, in my opinion.
This is a picture of me pouting about not being allowed to swim in the "dangerous" ocean....before my curiosity got the best of me!
Overall, I had a great time in Hawaii and I am thankful that I got a good vacation in to start the new year. As great as Hawaii is nothing keeps me as entertained as playing poker. I am really anxious to get back to Vegas and start grinding again. When I say grinding I don't mean anything too crazy. I want to try to play quite a bit though. I'll set some quick goals and see if I can stick to them in the near future....
1. Average 1200 hands/day until I leave for Louisville.
2. Win $5500 before I leave for Louisville.
I am leaving for Louisville around the 29th or so these should be pretty simple goals. I have played enough in my first two days since I've been home, but I am down a little bit (maybe $200 or so?) during that time.
I promise to have more poker content in my upcoming blogs.
I didn't update my blog too much while I was in Hawaii, but I think that is pretty reasonable. I also didn't check any of my voice mails and/or answer many phone calls while I was there. If you are reading this and felt like you were getting the could shoulder while I was in Hawaii....I guess you kinda were, but it wasn't for any reason other than that I was in Hawaii and didn't feel like spending my time on the phone.
Well, In my last blog I mentioned how Jeff hit the ball worse than I had ever seen him hit it yet managed to scrape it around in 2 under par for his first round....I guess it finally caught up to him for Friday's round. During Thursday's round he made a very prophetic statement even though he said it somewhat half-heartedly. He had hit it all over the place for the first few holes while remaining even par when he hit a poor tee shot on his 4th or 5th hole leaving him in the deep rough and right behind a tree. He tried to cut it around the tree, but his shot jumped right and hit the tree square which luckily kicked it back out into the middle of the fairway. He ended up making a great up and down from about 140 yards to save par. Feeling as though he was lucky to still be at even par even after hitting it so bad to start out, he looked at me on the way to the next tee box laughed and said "We are just delaying the inevitable". What he meant was, it didn't really matter that he just made that amazing par save, he couldn't expect to keep scoring so well while he was hitting it so poorly and eventually the bogeys were going to come. He managed to hold it together for the rest of Thursday's round, but boy did it catch up to him on Friday's round! It started on the first hole. He hit it right off the tee and ended up in the deep rough and behind a tree again. He tried to punch out to the fairway, but the rough turned his club over and he hit it through the fairway and into the left rough behind another tree. His only shot was to hit it in the green side bunker and from there he couldn't get it up and down. All the sudden he was back to even par after a double bogey on the opening hole. It only got worse from there and he ended up shooting a 77 for a two day total of 5 over par missing the cut by 6 shots. He said it was the most embarrassing round of golf he had ever played. Also, it tied for the highest round of golf he has shot since his sophomore year in college. Its pretty amazing to think that 99.9% of the golfing world would LOVE to shoot what he shoots on his worst day ever. So he missed the cut...now we were forced to spend more time at the beach, laying by the pool, eating at nice restaurants, and site seeing in Hawaii...what a bummer! He took almost the whole winter off and only practiced for about a week prior to the tournament so it wasn't so unexpected that he would play poorly in Hawaii. He has now vowed to never take so much time off in the winter again...you live and learn. He is so competitive that he will get back on track sooner than you'd expect and he'll be ready to go for his next tournament, The FBR, which is played in Phoenix in front of about 100K people and going on during the super bowl!
Yesterday we went to the North Shore to see some BIG waves. They were expecting some storm winds and 30 ft. waves which would be bigger than they have had in 3 years. They have some huge surfing competition in Hawaii, but they only have it when the waves get to 30 ft. or more so they had all of the world's best surfers on high alert that the competition might be going down within the next few days. I don't think they ended up getting high enough, but they were still very impressive. The waves were awesome to look at, but I was very dissapointed to find out that they would not allow any swimming by anyone that they deemed to be inexperienced and/or not local. I mean who are they to tell me that I don't get a chance to drown myself playing in the biggest waves I've ever seen?!? Of course I didn't want to go into the 30 ft. waves, but I REALLY wanted to play in/body surf in the huge (I'm guessing 8-10 ft.) waves that were crashing right near the shore. They had it roped off, but I couldn't help myself and got in anyway. A lifeguard immediately drove over on his 4-wheeler to kick me out of the water....what a bad break! Anyway, eventhough I couldn't enjoy the waves myself it was still pretty cool seeing the surfers getting out to the bigger waves and then riding back in once they made it. By the way, in case you have never been surfing...it is MUCH harder getting out to the waves than it is riding them back in, in my opinion.
This is a picture of me pouting about not being allowed to swim in the "dangerous" ocean....before my curiosity got the best of me!
Overall, I had a great time in Hawaii and I am thankful that I got a good vacation in to start the new year. As great as Hawaii is nothing keeps me as entertained as playing poker. I am really anxious to get back to Vegas and start grinding again. When I say grinding I don't mean anything too crazy. I want to try to play quite a bit though. I'll set some quick goals and see if I can stick to them in the near future....
1. Average 1200 hands/day until I leave for Louisville.
2. Win $5500 before I leave for Louisville.
I am leaving for Louisville around the 29th or so these should be pretty simple goals. I have played enough in my first two days since I've been home, but I am down a little bit (maybe $200 or so?) during that time.
I promise to have more poker content in my upcoming blogs.
Friday, January 11, 2008
A couple of pictures.....
Jeff and Chris......drunk
Chillin
Hotel balcony view
Robin and I at dinner
Me being an idiot
Robin and I with some parrots
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Hawaii update....
I meant to put mostly poker content in my blog, but I have hardly been playing any poker lately so I haven't had much to blog about other than my vacations. With that being said....I'll post an update on my vacation.
Hawaii has been awesome...during the day. Jeff and Robin seem to want to start their day at around 7:00am (Jeff to practice and Robin to lay by the pool) and they are ready for bed by seriously....8:00pm! I'm not much of a nightlife junkie anyway, but 8:00pm is a little ridiculous. When they go to bed I have been going downstairs to listen to the live music and/or walking up and down the strip and usually in bed by 11:00 or 12:00. Robin and I have been pool buddies everyday. We tried surfing one day and I sucked just like I did the last time I tried. I told them I wanted the biggest board they had and they told me I was getting a 10 ft. board. We met a surfing instructor while we were out there and he told me I was using a 9 ft. board and that I should be using at least a 10 ft. or 11 ft. board. Everyone else just lays on top of their board and their board stays right on top of the water and they just paddle where ever they want....my board is basically underwater the whole time and it would probably be easier to just swim without the stupid board! I got up one wave, but it was pretty short lived and not too satisfying. Basically, I just wore myself out trying to paddle out to and back from where the waves were breaking. We've eaten lots of good food and had lots of fun everyday...even if we are going to bed at 8:00pm.
We tried to go to see Pearl Harbor one morning when Jeff wasn't practicing, but there was already a two hour wait for the tour so we just turned around and came back to the hotel. I had already seen it anyway so I wasn't two disappointed. We also tried to play some sand volleyball, but the courts were full and we were reduced to just watching some really good people play. Since would couldn't play....we obviously had to gamble on someone else's match! I scouted these two really young girls out while they warmed up and they looked like they were really good. It was winner stays so when it was finally their turn to play the defending court champs I talked Jeff into laying me 2:1 odds that the two youngsters couldn't knock off the champs....my $10 to his $20. The match was looking like I had a good bet as my team was up a couple of points when one of the women from the defending champs came down with a rather unique injury....she STARTED HER PERIOD!! I tried to convince Jeff that I had won the bet since they couldn't continue, but he wouldn't go for it. Now, I only got my two superstar youngsters vs. the new challengers at even money...my $10 to his $10. My team won and since it felt like free money I gave the girls half of it and told them to buy their self something to drink. They were probably only 14 or 15 years old and they were actually really appreciative for the money (I wonder if I just violated their amatuer status? haha).
Jeff played the first round of the tourney today and ended up tied for 32nd at 2 under par. It is really incredible how he managed to shoot -2, because he hit it worse than I have ever seen him hit it. He made lots of putts and never really got into any serious trouble so that made up for some of his lackluster shots. He said that after he finished warming up on the range he felt like he might shoot 80...and believe me it certainly could have happened they way he hit some of his shots today. I think he just needs to shake off some of the rust and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. Anyway, it is a really good sign (and a testament to how good he really is) that he scored so well with much less than his A game. The leader is only at 6 under and there are tons of people within just a couple of shots ahead of Jeff so it shouldn't be too hard to make up some ground tomorrow. The cut will probably be -2 and possibly -1 if the course plays any tougher tomorrow.
It's getting to be REALLY late for our typical bed time...almost 10:00pm so I better hit the sack. Actually, since Jeff tees off at 7:30am tomorrow and our wakeup call is scheduled for 5:30am it isn't so unreasonable to be going to bed at 10:00 pm this time.
Here's to hoping I don't just lay here trying to fall asleep for the next 4 hours!
Hawaii has been awesome...during the day. Jeff and Robin seem to want to start their day at around 7:00am (Jeff to practice and Robin to lay by the pool) and they are ready for bed by seriously....8:00pm! I'm not much of a nightlife junkie anyway, but 8:00pm is a little ridiculous. When they go to bed I have been going downstairs to listen to the live music and/or walking up and down the strip and usually in bed by 11:00 or 12:00. Robin and I have been pool buddies everyday. We tried surfing one day and I sucked just like I did the last time I tried. I told them I wanted the biggest board they had and they told me I was getting a 10 ft. board. We met a surfing instructor while we were out there and he told me I was using a 9 ft. board and that I should be using at least a 10 ft. or 11 ft. board. Everyone else just lays on top of their board and their board stays right on top of the water and they just paddle where ever they want....my board is basically underwater the whole time and it would probably be easier to just swim without the stupid board! I got up one wave, but it was pretty short lived and not too satisfying. Basically, I just wore myself out trying to paddle out to and back from where the waves were breaking. We've eaten lots of good food and had lots of fun everyday...even if we are going to bed at 8:00pm.
We tried to go to see Pearl Harbor one morning when Jeff wasn't practicing, but there was already a two hour wait for the tour so we just turned around and came back to the hotel. I had already seen it anyway so I wasn't two disappointed. We also tried to play some sand volleyball, but the courts were full and we were reduced to just watching some really good people play. Since would couldn't play....we obviously had to gamble on someone else's match! I scouted these two really young girls out while they warmed up and they looked like they were really good. It was winner stays so when it was finally their turn to play the defending court champs I talked Jeff into laying me 2:1 odds that the two youngsters couldn't knock off the champs....my $10 to his $20. The match was looking like I had a good bet as my team was up a couple of points when one of the women from the defending champs came down with a rather unique injury....she STARTED HER PERIOD!! I tried to convince Jeff that I had won the bet since they couldn't continue, but he wouldn't go for it. Now, I only got my two superstar youngsters vs. the new challengers at even money...my $10 to his $10. My team won and since it felt like free money I gave the girls half of it and told them to buy their self something to drink. They were probably only 14 or 15 years old and they were actually really appreciative for the money (I wonder if I just violated their amatuer status? haha).
Jeff played the first round of the tourney today and ended up tied for 32nd at 2 under par. It is really incredible how he managed to shoot -2, because he hit it worse than I have ever seen him hit it. He made lots of putts and never really got into any serious trouble so that made up for some of his lackluster shots. He said that after he finished warming up on the range he felt like he might shoot 80...and believe me it certainly could have happened they way he hit some of his shots today. I think he just needs to shake off some of the rust and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. Anyway, it is a really good sign (and a testament to how good he really is) that he scored so well with much less than his A game. The leader is only at 6 under and there are tons of people within just a couple of shots ahead of Jeff so it shouldn't be too hard to make up some ground tomorrow. The cut will probably be -2 and possibly -1 if the course plays any tougher tomorrow.
It's getting to be REALLY late for our typical bed time...almost 10:00pm so I better hit the sack. Actually, since Jeff tees off at 7:30am tomorrow and our wakeup call is scheduled for 5:30am it isn't so unreasonable to be going to bed at 10:00 pm this time.
Here's to hoping I don't just lay here trying to fall asleep for the next 4 hours!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Traveling SUCKS!!
Ok, so really I love to travel, but the actual act of traveling really does suck. I am currently in Hawaii for the next 10 days and I love it. However, getting here (or anywhere that is half-way around the world) is one of the most miserable experiences EVER. I had to wake up at 10:00 am Evansville time to start packing so I could leave by noon to make it to Indianapolis so that Mom would be able to make it home at a decent hour. Then I met up with Robin and she drove us to her sister's house in Chicago. We woke up at 7:03 am to give ourselves just enough to time to drive to a free parking lot and catch a $20 cab ride to the airport so that I could make my flight that was to begin boarding at 9:14 am. Once I got on the plane I took my seat EXACTLY in the middle of the row. I had seat 28E and the seats were arranged like this: AB CDEFG H. That meant I would not be able to rest my head anywhere but on my chest, straight back, or with my forehead smashed against the back of the seat in front of me (this is actually the one I used most often). Also, being in the middle meant that if I ever wanted to go to the bathroom I would have to wake up two complete strangers to make it to the isle. Oh well, this wouldn't be too bad, I could tough it out....for 10.5 HOURS!!! Just to be sure it really sucked they had us sit on the runway for about an hour doing whatever they do when the decide to waste time before we took off. Oh yeah, did I mention that I wasn't flying direct to Honolulu? Of course I wasn't, I had to land in Maui and catch a flight back to Honolulu. Since we were late taking off it was going to be tight whether we made it on our connecting flight and they were nice enough to let us know that the flight would not be held for us if we missed it (code for: you better run when we let you off here). I made it to my connecting flight, but of course they didn't have time to get our luggage on our flight with us. Therefore, I had to wait about an hour for my luggage to catch back up to me on the next flight from Maui to Honolulu. Then it was a $40 cab ride to the hotel. Then Jeff and I had a misunderstanding on which hotel I was going to and I had to walk down the strip with my luggage while wearing my jeans and sweatshirt (it is hot here, btw) for about 5 minutes.
I know all that sounds terrible, but it is all worth it when you can go from throwing snow balls in the morning (in Chicago) to throwing seashells in the Pacific Ocean later that night.
I know this seems like an unwarranted gripe blog, but it is actually a hidden "eat your heart out" blog. It did suck traveling, but I am lucky to be here and I would do it all again tomorrow if I had to make it back to Hawaii. Jeff and Robin just called to give me a hard time about being in the room and not down on the beach with them throwing the football, so that is where I am heading.
Aloha for now and mahalo for reading!
I know all that sounds terrible, but it is all worth it when you can go from throwing snow balls in the morning (in Chicago) to throwing seashells in the Pacific Ocean later that night.
I know this seems like an unwarranted gripe blog, but it is actually a hidden "eat your heart out" blog. It did suck traveling, but I am lucky to be here and I would do it all again tomorrow if I had to make it back to Hawaii. Jeff and Robin just called to give me a hard time about being in the room and not down on the beach with them throwing the football, so that is where I am heading.
Aloha for now and mahalo for reading!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
1st post of 2008.....
I guess I'll just get a few resolutions out of the way....
1. Keep better records (like an excel file with exact numbers like I used to)
2. Play more hours when I am in Vegas (both online and live)...35 hours per week seems reasonable.
3. Get BR to $80K by end of lease in June and buy a house.
4. Never have a losing session in 2008 (just kidding, but I am off to a 2 for 2 start!)
I played online yesterday with my little brother, Kevin, playing right beside me on his laptop. He has been playing small stakes NL, but he has been crushing it winning like 12-14 buy-ins or something in a few days. I started off running pretty bad and then won like 6 hands all at the same time. I busted a guy with KK, flopped top set, flopped another set, and made quads seriously almost at the same time (I was playing 4 tables) and before I knew it I ended up winning almost $900 in a little over an hour. I had been losing so I wanted to just book a small win and be done for the day...so I quit.
I played the PLO today at Aztar and I played tighter than I probably ever have in that game (which is hard to do!). It didn't help that I had Matt and Roger to my left and knew there was a pretty decent chance that it was going to get raised if I decided to limp in. I hardly won any hands and certainly didn't win any big hands, but somehow I managed to win $733. Sadly, that is going to be the last time I get to play in that game for a while since I am leaving for Hawaii on Friday. During my trip home I played in the game 4 times and my results were: -$27, +$2,796, -$819, and +$733. That is a total profit of $2,683...I estimate that I played in the game for about 18 hours total which is an hourly rate of around $150. Actually, I don't think that is too far from an accurate win rate for me in that game (prolly closer to $100 now that I think about it)....I am not even a good PLO player really, but that game is just soooo good.
After the PLO; Matt, Clint, Eric, and I played some 3 on 3 basketball at the EBA.....wow, am I out of shape! Then we went to Eric's to watch the IU game and eat some pizza. They looked pretty good and are going to make for a fun Big 10 season.
Oh ya, this is kinda cool.....I can use my google analytics account to check all kinds of traffic stats on my blog.
Here are a few of the fun ones.....
1. I have had 178 total visits from 25 different people in 15 different cities
2. I've had 81 visits from Evansville, 50 from Newburgh (thanks to Dad and Josh I am sure), and 11 from Indy (thanks Matt).
3. 75% of you have my blog saved in your favorites OR you type my exact address in every time (which I find hard to believe). 17% of you got to my blog via searching for it on google (the most common search that led these people to my blog was "thakilla blog")
4. 88% of you use internet explorer and 81% of you have cable internet (not sure why I need to know that, but it shows me anyway)
5. 100% of you think reading my blog is your favorite part of the day (and I can't say that I blame you).
1. Keep better records (like an excel file with exact numbers like I used to)
2. Play more hours when I am in Vegas (both online and live)...35 hours per week seems reasonable.
3. Get BR to $80K by end of lease in June and buy a house.
4. Never have a losing session in 2008 (just kidding, but I am off to a 2 for 2 start!)
I played online yesterday with my little brother, Kevin, playing right beside me on his laptop. He has been playing small stakes NL, but he has been crushing it winning like 12-14 buy-ins or something in a few days. I started off running pretty bad and then won like 6 hands all at the same time. I busted a guy with KK, flopped top set, flopped another set, and made quads seriously almost at the same time (I was playing 4 tables) and before I knew it I ended up winning almost $900 in a little over an hour. I had been losing so I wanted to just book a small win and be done for the day...so I quit.
I played the PLO today at Aztar and I played tighter than I probably ever have in that game (which is hard to do!). It didn't help that I had Matt and Roger to my left and knew there was a pretty decent chance that it was going to get raised if I decided to limp in. I hardly won any hands and certainly didn't win any big hands, but somehow I managed to win $733. Sadly, that is going to be the last time I get to play in that game for a while since I am leaving for Hawaii on Friday. During my trip home I played in the game 4 times and my results were: -$27, +$2,796, -$819, and +$733. That is a total profit of $2,683...I estimate that I played in the game for about 18 hours total which is an hourly rate of around $150. Actually, I don't think that is too far from an accurate win rate for me in that game (prolly closer to $100 now that I think about it)....I am not even a good PLO player really, but that game is just soooo good.
After the PLO; Matt, Clint, Eric, and I played some 3 on 3 basketball at the EBA.....wow, am I out of shape! Then we went to Eric's to watch the IU game and eat some pizza. They looked pretty good and are going to make for a fun Big 10 season.
Oh ya, this is kinda cool.....I can use my google analytics account to check all kinds of traffic stats on my blog.
Here are a few of the fun ones.....
1. I have had 178 total visits from 25 different people in 15 different cities
2. I've had 81 visits from Evansville, 50 from Newburgh (thanks to Dad and Josh I am sure), and 11 from Indy (thanks Matt).
3. 75% of you have my blog saved in your favorites OR you type my exact address in every time (which I find hard to believe). 17% of you got to my blog via searching for it on google (the most common search that led these people to my blog was "thakilla blog")
4. 88% of you use internet explorer and 81% of you have cable internet (not sure why I need to know that, but it shows me anyway)
5. 100% of you think reading my blog is your favorite part of the day (and I can't say that I blame you).
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